day 315 – four Harry Bertoia sounding sculpture details

The man, the sculptures, make my heart sing . . . .

I love the details.  If God is in the details, what do you see?

I have thousands of these images.  I get lost, caught up, in them for hours.  I love to be up close and personal.  I love that I can see what Harry could see.  Can you hear it?  Does it touch YOUR heart?  What touches YOUR heart?  That is what this whole exploration has been.  Listen to my heart & hear what it’s telling me. 

Now, how can I tell?  When my heart is singing, JOY is there.  Did you know you can learn the same lessons in joy as you can learn in pain & struggling?   I remember the day in 1997 I made that choice:  “I will live the rest of my life in joy.  I will only do what brings me joy.”

At the time I couldn’t even tell you what was joyful to me.  But I definitely knew when I wasn’t in joy.  That’s all I needed to know.  I began a practice of noticing when I wasn’t in joy.  In that moment, I’d see if I could transform my experience to joy.  If I could not, I’d leave & find something or someplace where joy was again present. 

The first thing that showed up in that space of joy was a driving trip to Iowa to say goodbye to my mother who I knew would be transitioning soon.  Before that trip, I got sleepy when I drove any distance.  I used to say, “The angels got me here when I’d arrive at my destination.  I kept falling asleep.”  In this trip I drove 3,000 miles, saw aunts/uncles/cousins/friends I hadn’t seen for 30 years, visited 8-10 skateboarding parks with my kids and had a great time.  Don’t think I dozed or fell asleep once.

Next, I found a space for my design studio in my neighborhood.  It was the first one I’d ever had outside my house.

Then someone said to me, “You must  have a new man in your life, you’re smiling alot.”  I replied, “No, I got joyful and began smiling and then a new man showed up in my life.  I’m clear the smiling happened first.”

As my practice of living in joy continued, my Harry Bertoia sculpture(s) and falling in love with Harry occurred. 

My life altered as I listened to, and followed, the joy in my heart.

What did you say makes YOUR heart sing?